THE ORIGIN OF MONASTIC LIFE
IN RUS'-UKRAINE
Athanasius Pekar, OSBM
Analecta OSBM, Section II, Volume XIII (XIX) 1-4, 1988,
pages 356-370.
I) Monasticism found its way to Kievan Rus' simultaneously with Christianity,
since the monks were the first missionaries in Kievan lands.
2) While the Primary Chronicle mentions the foundations of the first monasteries
in Kiev under the year 1037, Hilarion's Sermon on the Law and Grace ("Slavo
o zakoni i blahodaty") testifies that on the Kievan hills "the monasteries
were built and the monks were seen" already at the time of St. Vladimir
(d. 1015).
3) Under the leadership of St. Theodosius Pecers'kyj (d. 1074), a particular
Ukrainian type of monasticism developed at the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev,
from where it was diffused throughout the Kievan lands.
4) The canonical basis of the Pecers'kyj Typikon is the Basilian rule in the
Studite tradition as adopted and adapted by St. Theodosius Pecers'kyj.
5) Monasticism, under the leadership of the Monastery of the Caves, became
instrumental in strengthening and consolidating Christianity in Kievan Rus',
transforming it into a genuine and deeply Christian state.
6) The formation and development of a distinct Ukrainian Rite within the Byzantine
group, with its own type of Old-Slavonic language, liturgical traditions and
chant, at least in its primordial stage, must also be ascribed to the initiative
and wide influence of Theodosian monasticism.
7) Finally, the decisive influence of Kievan monasticism on the early development
of the Ukrainian "knyina mova" and literature cannot be denied.
Thanks to a well established and vigorous monastic life in Kievan Rus', the
Ukrainian nation became a Christian nation, and the Ukrainian culture became
a Christian culture. Due to the early influence of monasticism, Christianity
and Ukraine became inseparable.